Teach your kids how to play sports is an excellent way to bond and spend quality time together. One of the best sports to play with your child is baseball. The quality time spent together with your child playing baseball is something that cannot be replaced. However, in order to properly teach your child how to play the sport of baseball, it helps to have some equipment. By building a pitching mound in your backyard, you will always be able to take some time out of your busy day to enjoy a catch with your son or daughter.
Find a Space Large Enough for your Mound
The first step you will need to take when looking to build a pitching mound in your backyard is to find a space large enough. Figure out the distance from the pitching mound to home plate used in the league your son plays baseball in before you start building your mound in your backyard. This will ensure that you make your mound the same distance from home plate, allowing your child practices at the right distance for his league while you spend quality time together.
Each age group has a different distance that they use for little league, so make sure you select the right one when building your pitching mound. This can be done by looking at your child’s little league rulebook or asking his coach or umpire at the next game. Also, you will want to note the height of the mound use in your child’s league as well, as this can differ between leagues as well.
Creating the Pitching Mound
After you know the height and distance on the pitching mound used in your child’s baseball league, you are ready to start building your backyard pitching mound. First, you will need to clear a patch of turf approximately ten to eighteen feet in diameter. This will give you ample room to create your pitching mound and landing area. Once you remove the turf from your yard, you want to smooth out the dirt so the ground is as even as possible.
Next, you will want to pound a stake into the middle of your circular area of dirt, making mark on the stake of how high you want your mound to be. This will be used to know when to stop adding dirt to your mound. With the stake pounding into the ground, start pouring a mixture of clay, dirt, and silt into your pitching circle. You can purchase a premade mixture of mound clay to use with your pitching mound to make this process easier.
Start by pouring one inch of mound clay into your pitching circle and tamping it down so the mixture is nice and firm. Then pour another one inch thick layer of mound dirt on top of the first layer 3 to 6 inches smaller in diameter. Tamp down this layer as well until it is nice and firm. Continue this process of laying smaller diameter circles of mound clay on top of each other until you reach the height noted on the stake you have placed in the middle of your pitching circle. At the end, you should have a rounded mound of dirt that meets the height requirements of your son’s baseball league.
After your mound is complete, you are ready to put down the pitching rubber. You can choose to stake your pitching rubber to the mound or slightly bury the pitching rubber in the mound clay to keep it from moving. Either option is acceptable as long as the pitching rubber is secure and will not move when it is being used.
With your pitching mound complete, you are ready to enjoy a game of catch with your son and work on his pitching mechanics while spending quality time with your family.